Surely the poor fellow means well. Liberals always do. But as with why some keep on catblogging and others, like himself, give it up, Drum totally misses the dynamics of why some bloggers get noticed more than others. The timid fellow admits as much in this please-don't-hit-me disclaimer (no doubt an attempt at humor, but we are not amused): "Since I don't wish to suffer the fate of Larry Summers, I'll refrain from speculating on deep causes":

So far no one has attempted any kind of real answer to [Susan] Estrich's question: why are op-ed pages so completely dominated by men?

The political blogosphere provides another clue. Although its geeky Usenet roots were (and are) testosterone laden affairs, there are still no formal barriers to entry here, no old boys club in the usual meaning of the word. Yet if you take a look at the Blogosphere Ecosystem, which for all its faults is probably the closest thing we have to a consensus measure of popularity for political blogs, you will find exactly two women in the top 30: Michelle Malkin and La Shawn Barber.

So what's up? There aren't any institutional barriers in the traditional sense of the word, which means either (a) there are fewer female political bloggers and thus fewer in the top 30, or (b) there are plenty of women who blog about politics but they don't get a lot of traffic or links from high-traffic male bloggers.

My guess is that it's a bit of both . . . but I imagine that the fundamental viciousness and self aggrandizement inherent in opinion writing turns off a lot of women.

We can say right up front that the shallowness of Kevin Drum's argument turns off this woman. Maybe we're in a Pauline Kael bubble of our own, but most of the women we know -- fellow bloggers, readers, friends and relatives -- adore fiery political discourse and keep coming back for more.

The Ecosystem tells us who's getting the best linkage, and the men are definitely on top. There well may be some testosterone-related dynamic in the numbers -- just as there may be in men's dominance of the heights of mathematical and scientific achievement -- but there are other dynamics at work as well, and Drum's evasive explanation is boring at best.

Our point here is that the more you're noticed, the more you're noticed. Being there early or with a splashing debut with assist like lefty cutie Wonkette helps. She's the only girl blogger we've ever seen on TV (Malkin is a TV regular but as a columnist, not as a blogger), together with a handful of outstanding boy bloggers.

It's "just nice" and "brings people together" [can you say United Nations pipedreams?], and Drum hasn't catblogged since last March, but that doesn't stop the Times from using the well-meaning but totally out-of-touch [like the MSM itself?] former catblogger -- including a picture of him and one of his precious pussycats, Inkblot -- as the centerpiece of their Behind-the-Times report. We beg to differ, of course. For fickle catbloggers like Drum, catblogging, like everything else, is all about them. True catblogging, on the contrary, is about the eternal feline. And it isn't about making nice but about looking to the animals for revelations about our common nature.

Wanna step outside, Kevin?

Update: Speaking of catblogging, the latest Carnival of the Cats is available at Flying Space Monkeys for your viewing pleasure, as is the Friday Ark at Modulator.

TrackBack

» An Update On The "Women Blogger" Question from Trish Wilson's Blog
Update: Another person pipes in - Chris Nolan, from Politics From Left To Right. Elayne Riggs at Pen-Elayne also wrote a second post on the subject. Worth a repeat: The Link Portal on Gender in the Blogosphere, by Culture Cat. [Read More]

Tracked on February 22, 2005 at 07:01 PM

» Women and Blogging from Political Animal
WOMEN AND BLOGGING....Well, that didn't go well. Here's a roundup of responses: Meryl Yourish: "A (female) blogger sent me this link to Kevin Drum being an idiot (yes, I know, he is often an idiot, but this time, it's personal—he... [Read More]

Tracked on February 22, 2005 at 07:12 PM

» Who's With Me? from Plum Crazy
Ladies, I’ve been thinking a bit about the latest round of “pondering” about where are all the women bloggers, and I’ve decided it’s time we do something about it. Ilyka is right. We can’t make the big boy bloggers l... [Read More]

Since the list just about doubled since first posted, I thought it wouldn't hurt to revisit the entire list, offering a new metaroll for anyone needing help figuring out where all the woman bloggers are.

» Carnival Of The Cats #49 from Mind of Mog
Keaukina starts it out with a puzzle. What is this furry thing? Answer here but you have to guess first.
Captain Oates shares this scrounger of food, poor hungry kitty. Too bad cats don't eat oats. Camera hog too.
Nick, on the other hand fetes hi... [Read More]

» The 51% Minority from Little Miss Attila
Beth at My Right Wing Conspiracy just let Ellen Goodman have it over her assertions about the paucity of women in the blogosphere. (Wait. I thought Goodman was only alleging that the leftosphere was sexist. Guess I was wrong .... [Read More]

Tracked on August 13, 2007 at 07:35 AM

Comments

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There were probably no other liberal cat bloggers out there... Or far more likely, Drum is the only blogger that the MSM had ever heard of... they thought his cat blogging was cute (even though he wasn't doing it anymore) wanted a puff piece, and called him. Heaven forbid they actually go looking around to see what is really going on! (that would be like... work)

And really, what is the point of rehashing the same subject every six months or so when it never EVER changes? Is it something in their biological clock that says "oh, six months are up. Let's write again about how there are no good women bloggers, even though there ARE and I'm just too lazy/stupid/ignorant/sexist to find them or I just don't think they are worth my time because they have a vagina!"

The NYT called me about Friday catblogging because I was the person who started it. That's all.

You're right that I missed Michele, though. I'll fix it.

As for why I wrote about this, that's obvious, isn't it? It was because of the recent Kinsley/Estrich dustup. Since the blogosphere doesn't have the same traditional barriers to entry of the op-ed page, it makes an interesting comparison.

Hey, John Denton, it may be time to break out of your Pauline Kael bubble. All of your examples of so-called women (Hillary Clinton?) are from the left side of the aisle. They are hobbled by rigid adherence to Marxist analysis and don't really count, in my book. May I politely suggest you consider, for starters, Sally Baliunus, Margaret Thatcher -- and, oh, yes, Condi Rice -- before you dismiss us gals out of hand? The women of the right are much more interesting than any we know of on the left. Why don't you give us a try?

I will be reading your blog as long as the inimitably beautiful Babe graces your pages! That you happen to be a fellow female of the species means little - it all comes down to CAT LOVERS who write brilliantly!